Celebrate The Birth Of Your Child With A ‘Dadchelor’ Party

It takes a village to raise a child, but it may also take a village to help a man prepare for parenthood.

With Father's Day coming up, what better way to introduce you to a new phenomenon called "dadchelor" parties."

A dadchelor party is pretty much what the name implies - a bunch of guys get together to help an expectant father celebrate the fact he's about to enter a world where he wakes up for diaper changes at 3 a.m. and must wait four hours to leave the house because it takes that long to make sure he has all of Junior's stuff.

Like a bachelor party, these fiestas often include liquor, gambling and maybe a trip to a sporting event, as well as, perhaps, the kind of rabble-rousing you might see in one of 'The Hangover' movies. Instead of topless babes busting out of cakes, though, friends of the soon-to-be daddy might chip in on more sensible gifts, like a diaper keg, where men can swap diapers for beer.

Twenty-nine-year-old David Hellmann, of Chicago, says he's been to four dadchelor parties and sums up the theme of the bashes by saying, "Let's have one more night where responsible decisions don't matter."

So, how exactly has the dadchelor party become the male equivalent of the shower? Carley Roney, who serves as editor of TheBump.com, which caters to new and expectant mothers, says it's a good way for men to bid adieu to their old life, since taking care of children has become more and more of a shared duty with mothers.

Roney said, "Guys are just as overwhelmed by the thought of how much their lives are going to change. This is the antidote to that, the hedge against it."

Brian Podvia, a travel agency owner, who's seen a rise in what he calls "daddymoons," thinks the event's popularity is actually more basic than that.

Podvia said, "At the end of the day, it's the last time to see your friends before you have responsibilities with the baby. You know, as a parent you can't do these kinds of things anymore."